So today big brother went to SEC tournament basketball games with bigger brother, so this
9-year old and I headed to Stone Mountain.
For those of you not familiar with Stone Mountain – it’s this enormous granite lump – technically speaking, a monadnock – that rises abruptly east of Atlanta. It was quarried until 1978, and is now the center of an expansive park.
It’s also known for the bas-relief of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis and being central in the re -founding of the KKK in the 20th century. (For a bit more on the carving, see here.) Not for nothing did Martin Luther King Jr include it in the “I Have a Dream” speech:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.…
…and since today, probably 2/3 of the folks I saw hiking, strolling, walking, biking and playing in Stone Mountain Park were African-American…maybe it does.